How Minecraft has bewitched 40 million of us

The worldwide domination of Markus Persson's building-blocks game is a triumph for the power of human imaginationA funny thing happened on the way to this column. Browsing idly through the Publishers Weekly site, I came on the list of the Nielsen bestselling books of 2014 (so far) in the US. The Top 20 list was dominated by "young adult" fiction, books such as Divergent by Veronica Roth and John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, plus the usual movie tie-ins. At No 9 ,there's a religious book, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by missionary Sarah Young. At No 11 is Heaven is for Real ("A little boy's astounding story of his trip to Heaven and back").Two slots further down there's a "junior novelisation" of the Disney film, Frozen. At No 15 is an "activity book", complete with 50 stickers, based on the same film. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #young adult #veronica roth #john green #jesus calling #activity book

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Kindles Sell by the Millions

Analysis: Amazon's admission of selling a million Kindles per week is good news for the ebook market in general. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook market


Letterbox Library seeks £40,000

Letterbox Library, a supplier of multicultural books to schools and early years settings, is... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Halpern Reflects on 40 Years of Ecco

It was a chance chauffeur job, shuttling a bored author back to his hotel room, that got Dan Halpern into publishing. The author was Paul Bowles, it was the late 1960s, and Halpern agreed to take the writer on the long drive back to Santa Monica when Bowles tired of the party he’d been thrown at... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #santa monica #late 1960s #hotel room


Eclipse passes two million barrier

Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse, the third book in her bestselling Twilight series, has become the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stephenie meyer


Financial Times Web App Gains One Million Registrants

Financial Times reaches yet another milestone, now boasting one million registrants for its native web app. Apps.FT.com launched in June, after FT decided to go without Apple for its subscription-based app offering. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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EUP reports 40% rise in ebook sales

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 09:40 Sales and profit for 2011 have slumped at Edinburgh University Press at the same time the company has reported a 40% rise in year-on-year ebook sales. The Scottish academic publisher has reported an 11.6% fall in sales and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook sales


Meredith Increases Dividend by 50% and Authorizes a $100 Million Stock Repurchase

This story first appears on FOLIO: sister site, minonline. Meredith Corp. chairman/CEO (since July 2004) Steve Lacy announced that the board of directors approved a $1.02-to-$1.53 per-share increase in the quarterly dividend paid to investors and authorized the repurchase of $100 million of... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AMI Strikes $550 Million Deal With RR Donnelley

American Media, Inc. [AMI] is executing an aggressive digital strategy with the help of RR Donnelley—AMI awarded the company a contract to assist with its digital convergence that extends until the year 2020 that is worth an estimated $550 million. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin joins Kindle Million Club

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 19/09/2011 - 14:24 A Game of Thrones author George RR Martin has become the latest author to sell one million copies of his books for the Amazon Kindle. Martin joins Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kindle content #russ grandinetti #digital milestone #janet evanovich #john locke #michael connelly #suzanne collins #lee child


Half million print run for new Wimpy Kid

Publication Date: Tue, 30/08/2011 - 08:40 Puffin is to release an initial print run of half a million copies of the new Wimpy Kid title, Cabin Fever, published on 16th November. The print run is the largest in the history of the children's publisher, and will be Penguin's largest initial UK... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jamie oliver #print run #16th november #cabin fever #million copies #wimpy kid


Books-A-Million At the Crossroads

At no time in its history has the opportunity and danger been greater for Books-A-Million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stockett first debut in Kindle Million Club

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 14:41 Kathryn Stockett has become the first debut author to join the Kindle Million Club after selling over a million copies of her novel The Help (Penguin). Janet Evanovich, Headline Review author of the Stephanie Plum novels, has... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #million ebooks #john locke #michael connelly #suzanne collins #lee child #charlaine harris #nora roberts #james patterson #janet evanovich #million copies


Canavan hits one million milestone for Orbit

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 15:15 Fantasy author Trudi Canavan has become the latest writer to top the landmark figure of one million print book sales through UK Nielsen BookScan. Total sales through Nielsen BookScan to the week ending 6th August 2011 are... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books-A-Million in last-minute Borders bid

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 22/07/2011 - 09:32 Books-A-Million has bid for up to 35 US Borders stores in a last-minute offer to try and save part of the 40-year-old bookselling chain. The chain, which also runs stores under the names Books & Co., Bookland and Joe... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Self-published author hits one million Kindle sales

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 20/06/2011 - 14:31 John Locke has become the first self-published author to sell more than one million ebooks through Amazon. The author used Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform to publish and sell his titles. He joins Stieg Larsson,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #michael connelly #suzanne collins #lee child #charlaine harris #nora roberts #james patterson #million ebooks #self-published author


Google in Talks to Buy AdMeld for $400 Million

Google is in talks to buy AdMeld, a display advertising company, for $400 million, according to the New York Times. TechCrunch first reported the acquisition, but inside sources told the Times that the deal hadn’t been finalized and that negotiations could still fall apart. An acquisition of... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #people connect #display advertising #neal mohan #hearst television #weather channel #venture capital


Child and Collins join Kindle Million Club

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 06/06/2011 - 14:49 Lee Child and Suzanne Collins are the latest authors to sell more than a million Kindle books. The pair join Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Charlaine Harris. Child, who has written 16 Jack Reacher thrillers... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #time amazon #started writing #charlaine harris #nora roberts #james patterson #latest authors #suzanne collins


Unbound aims for 40 books in year one

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 14:25 Unbound, a publishing platform that allows readers to choose what is published, was devised as a response to the “difficulties of the existing publishing model”, with the programme aiming to get 35 to 40 projects off the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Metamarkets Raises $6 Million To Help Big Web Publishers Corral Big Data

A ad tech startup that promises to help Web publishers make sense of all the data their ad sales generate. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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GigiOM Raises $6 Million in Round Led By Reed Elsevier

GigaOM, a media company targeting the tech space, has secured a $6 million round of funding led by Reed Elsevier's investment group Reed Elsevier Ventures. Existing venture partners Alloy Ventures and True Ventures also participated in the round. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #funding led #tech space #reed elsevier #round led